Xicotepec de Juárez is a coffee town in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, ringed by green hills and watered by springs and streams that run through it. In a ravine in town is La Xochipila, an old ceremonial center tied to Xochipilli, the god of flowers, spring, and music. Visitors stroll the flower-filled central garden, shop for jewelry made from coffee beans, and taste the local coffee along with fruit like macadamia, mamey, and passion fruit.
History
The name is Nahuatl for hill of the bumblebees, and the town's glyph shows a green hill topped by a bee. By one account the first settlers were Otomí groups who arrived around 300 BC, followed in the 5th century by Totonacs from El Tajín. The place grew around a ceremonial center, La Xochipila, that drew worshippers from a wide region.
Around 1120 the Toltec ruler Huemac conquered the area; Chichimec tribes seized it soon after and held it for some forty years. About 1325 the Acolhua took over, and by 1432 Xicotepec paid tribute to Texcoco in bird feathers, with a lord appointed by Nezahualcóyotl.
The Spanish occupied the territory in 1533. Two years later Augustinian friars founded the town as San José de Xicotepec, with San Juan Bautista as patron, and it soon became the seat of a colonial district that reached far beyond today's municipality. Between 1564 and 1572 indigenous scribes painted a pictographic codex to preserve local history and traditions.
Today Xicotepec is best known for its coffee-growing country. It was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2012.
Plan your trip
Places to stay in Xicotepec
Casa de Cortez Hotel · 2.7 km from the center Find on Booking.comTours & activities
Guided tours, tastings, and day trips in and around Xicotepec.
Links open a partner site. We may earn a commission if you book, at no cost to you. Hotel names from OpenStreetMap.
Photos
Where it is
Xicotepec within Mexico
The town up close · Open in Google Maps
Getting there
- Fly into PAZ: El Tajín National Airport, about 63 km away in a straight line
Drive times are estimates from OpenStreetMap routing, without traffic.
Nearby Pueblos Mágicos
17 km away
19 km away
29 km away
41 km away
Sources: population from Wikidata (may count the whole municipality) · elevation and climate from Open-Meteo · airports from OurAirports (straight-line distance).